Here the distinguished
men from every section of our country, while meeting to deliberate
upon the great interests of those by whom they are deputed, learn
to estimate the talents and do justice to the virtues of each
other. The harmony of the nation is promoted and the whole Union
is knit together by the sentiments of mutual respect, the habits
of social intercourse, and the ties of personal friendship formed
between the representatives of its several parts in the
performance of their service at this metropolis.
Passing from this general review of the purposes and injunctions
of the Federal Constitution and their results as indicating the
first traces of the path of duty in the discharge of my public
trust, I turn to the Administration of my immediate predecessor as
the second. It has passed away in a period of profound peace, how
much to the satisfaction of our country and to the honor of our
country's name is known to you all. The great features of its
policy, in general concurrence with the will of the Legislature,
have been to cherish peace while preparing for defensive war; to
yield exact justice to other nations and maintain the rights of
our own; to cherish the principles of freedom and of equal rights
wherever they were proclaimed; to discharge with all possible
promptitude the national debt; to reduce within the narrowest
limits of efficiency the military force; to improve the
organization and discipline of the Army; to provide and sustain a
school of military science; to extend equal protection to all the
great interests of the nation; to promote the civilization of the
Indian tribes, and to proceed in the great system of internal
improvements within the limits of the constitutional power of the
Union.
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